The 72nd Hunger Games
by ArdentheVampire
Summary: Thorn was just an average orphan in District Seven - until her first reaping. With all the odds up against her, can she possibly survive? All anyone knows, is this is going to be one intersting Hunger Games.


**YAY. I'm supposed to be doing school work but I wrote this instead. Be happy :3 This is my first Hunger Games story feauturing my OC, and I wanted toknow something.**

**Should I make this a SYOT story? I know who I want to win of course, but I still kind of want to make it one... ideas? If even one person wants me to Ill upload a form x3 **

**Anywho, links to Thorn, Juniper, and Violets** **reaping outfits are at the end of the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I only own my original characters - not the Hunger Games, Johanna, or anything.**

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><p>I woke up to the musky, sweet smell of sap. There's a logical explanation for this of course – I'd been so tired last night that I'd collapsed on my cot with the syrup matted in my hair and under my nails. Not my smartest decision, incidentally.<p>

It took a few seconds to blink the lingering sleepiness out of my eyes before I was awake enough to roll over and stumble out of bed into the small kitchen. My kitchen wasn't really a kitchen, more like a room that had a table, chair, and a crisper to store meat in which I could get my hands on it. No stove, no fridge.

I went up to one of the cabinets, standing on my tiptoes and feeling around without looking, trying to find the bowl I had restocked last week with apples. Nope, not there, not here either... OH! Found it!

I jumped up, swiping the red fruits and stretching before collapsing in the lone chair, taking a bite. The juices sloshed in my mouth, the tangy after taste wonderful. Apples were rare around here, I'd been lucky enough to find an apple tree when delivering a message to one of the workers in the lumber yard – his wife Willow had gone into labor.

In the small area of District 7, there wasn't a large population – everyone knew everyone, whether you were from the richer, upper-class part of town, or the Slums, the poorest part of town. Even the peacekeepers were rather even-tempered, seeing as there hadn't been an execution in months.

The District was strictly middle-class,compared to the others. We weren't nearly as rich as the Career districts, nor did we have as little as District 12. Most of the older men worked in the lumber yards, cutting down trees everyday except for Sundays and holidays. Most of the women of the district were in charge of cutting the bark off of the trees. Some of the bark was actually edible, and tasted a little bland, but it was better then starving.

If you didn't work with the lumber, you were probably a shop-owner. In the richer part of town, or the Top, there were various stores with high-priced goods. When doing small jobs up there, I had seen a clothing store with a dress in the window that cost more then my life was probably worth.  
>It amazed me how someone would spend that much on clothing, I only had about three outfits. Admittedly, I did live in the northern part of the Slums, on the edge of the forest, but still.<p>

Finishing up the apple, I picked out the seeds, knowing I could sell them for a small price or trade them. After this, I put the core in a separate bowl, knowing that the deer and elk in the woods would eat it. I glanced up at my To-Do list for the day I had tacked above the sink, and saw that it was rather empty. I blinked a couple more times before it clicked exactly why.

Today was the day of the reaping. It wasn't like me to forget, but I had a rather busy week, running across town for ten or so hours straight. Also, I didn't have any parents to fret and worry about me being reaped, seeing as this was the first year that I was eligible since my twelfth birthday last year.

My mother and father had died when I was seven. They had both been out in the lumberyard when the forest fire occurred. During the summer droughts, it wasn't uncommon, but that fire was a nightmare for the district. Dozens of workers died, and more then half of the cut lumber that was to be shipped soon was demolished.

I was an only child, and had no other family, so I was forced to go the orphanage. I stayed there up until I was ten. At the age of ten you were no longer forced to stay, and they no longer payed for your meals. District 7 allowed children ten to fifteen to become paiges, and send messages for the mayor and the shop keepers from the Top, which payed enough to live on.

I had signed up to become a Paige immediately, along with doing other small jobs when I could. It wasn't uncommon for the slum children to be seen getting sap from maple trees and picking wild vegetables and herbs that grew along the edges of town. This wasn't illegal here, seeing as how it was in District limits, so if you could find it it was free game.

As I continued my internal monologue, I had filled the tub in the bathroom with warm water, before soaking and scrubbing the sticky syrup out of my hair, along with the dirt and sweat on my body. It was absolutely heavenly.

When I climbed out I wrapped a frayed towel around my middle, venturing into my bedroom and grabbing my newest article of clothing, my reaping dress. Kind Mrs. Greenlish, the Top seamstress, had given it to me in turn for giving her two dozen apples from the tree I found. If anyone was a mother-figure to me, it would be her. She was strict, and blunt, but she was a kind-hearted woman that I loved to death.

She had an eighteen year old daughter, Violet, who had gotten married to a nice middle-class nineteen year old last year, and they were now expecting a baby that would be born in six months. Violet was a fun, upbeat and optimistic girl, with the same dirty blonde hair as her mother, which was rare in a district where more that half the population had the same dark brown hair and brown eyes.

I could count of one hand the number of people I knew personally that looked different then the norm, me being one of them. My hair was still brown, but a red-brown auburn. I had hazel eyes instead of the normal dark brown.

I smiled a bit as I looked at the dress. It was a light green and white plaid dress that reached my knees. It had a green bow that tied in the front. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever owned and I loved it to death. Wait, scratch that. That was a bad choice of words seeing as how it was for the Reaping.

I slipped on one of my two pairs of shoe, plain white flats that had once belonged to Violet for her first Reaping. It had been a birthday gift from her last year, which I was thankful for. I grabbed my brush and brushed through my wavy hair, getting all of the knots out and nearly ripping my scalp off in the process. I am not an expert with hair at all, so I just put my hair into two loose pigtail buns that looked a little formal. I looked in the mirror, but the motion felt awkward. I never dressed up and it didn't look like me in any way.

About to leave my room, I halted, eying the jewelry box that was on my nightstand. It had belonged to Mother... almost like I wasn't in control,my body drifted over to the simple white box, opening it to reveal a few things.

One was Mother's wedding ring – she never wore it to the lumber yard in case it got lost, a pair of earrings I had never seen her wear, and a single, beaded green necklace. The necklace had been her mother's mother, and she had always say she'd give it to me on my first reaping day. Well... it was my reaping day. Before I could talk myself out of it, I grabbed the necklace and slipped it over my head, immediately relaxing.

It was like carrying around a piece of her.

On that note, I left my small, shed-like home and headed for the square. In District Seven, Reapings began at nine AM sharp. Attending was mandatory unless you were on your deathbed. As funny as some of the peacekeepers can be during good times, like now, where we haven't had an arrest or execution in months, when it comes to the reaping you barely recognize them. They loose all qualms about shooting a bullet through your head.

Shaking the morbid thoughts from my head, I glance around out of habit. The Slums were filled with houses like mine – wooden, shed-like houses, some larger then others. Most of them had square holes for windows and two or three rooms, nothing special. The average family down here was about two children and there parents, more or less. I was lucky to be able to afford my little shack, and it was with many thanks to Mrs. Greenlish and her tendency to pay me more then I earn.

The square is usually one of the more pleasant places in District Seven. It contains the shops that are owned by strictly middle-class people, who sell things at an average price that isn't too hard to afford. My favorite shop was the Bakery, which was owned by a little old lady named Margret and her thirty year old daughter Holly. Sometimes when I brought them fruits for the cakes and muffins, they'll let me help decorate. They were very kind people.

Today, though, the square was roped into different sections where shaking and grim-faced children stood. I could see the camera crews around on a few of the nearby roofs as I shuffled forward to sign in. I was shoved off into the twelve year old sections, where I quickly found Juniper. Juniper was my best friend, with her dark brown hair cut into a choppy bob and her tan skin lightly freckled. She was wearing a dress, the top part of it looks like a white blouse with a black trim, and bottomed out into a yellow skirt at the bottom of the dress. She was wearing nice black boots and a stitched black headband, her brown eyes shining. Her hair was pinned back into a nice french braid. Juniper was the daughter of the Mayor, and lived in the richest part of town besides the Victor's Alley. We had become friends in school at the age of five.

She greeted me in a way that could only be described as hyper – her usual way. How she could be so happy on the Reaping Day astounded me. Of course, she didn't have a large chance of getting reaped, seeing as her name was entered only once. I had a better chance and I was only entered twice, since I had taken tesserae.

"Hey Thorn!" She said, giving me a smile that showed of her rather large front teeth. My name wasn't actually thorn – it was Blossom Hawthorn. Blossom doesn't fit me at all, so most people had taken to calling me by my last name. Juniper just shortened it, leaving me as being Thorn. It was better then Blossom though – _anything_ was better then Blossom.

"Hi Junie." I said with a quick grin that quickly left my face, though the oblivious girl didn't seem to notice. I glanced around to the Eighteen year old's sections, finding the tall form of Violet. She was wearing a beautiful maroon dress, black sandals, and a black scarf. You could just make out the small bump on her belly that was from her baby.

The married girl meets me eyes and gives me a reassuring smile which I try to return before breaking eye contact.

The clock strikes nine and everyone's eyes flit to the makeshift stage as Birch Maythan, the mayor and Junie's father, takes the podium and begins to speak into the mic. He begins talking about the history of Panem, a speech I have heard time and time again so I distract myself by looking at the people sitting behind the mayor. There are five chairs,four of them occupied. Three are occupied by the past victors that are still alive – Johanna Mason, Blight, and Sera Oakley. Beside them is Mimi Gems, an upbeat, airheaded woman with short, spiky light blue hair, bright pink lips, and light blue tattoos around her eyes. She was currently wearing a pink, feathery dress that poofed out at the bottom, along with a multitude of rings around her fingers.

She was currently chatting to Johanna that looked like she wanted to throttle the painted Capital woman,while shooting glares at Blight who's lips kept twitching, looking like he wanted to smile.

"-And our Capital representative, miss Mimi Gems." Intoned the calm, low voice of the mayor. The blue-haired woman bounced up to the podium, looking like someone had given her too much cocoa.

"Happy, Happy Hunger Games!" Mimi trilled in that ridiculous accent. I had to resist a smirk as she continued. "May the odds always been in your favor!" She goes on to talk about the honor and glory of the games, so I tune her out, the high pitch she talked in beginning to give me a headache.

I felt someone grip my hand, and look up at Junie, who's bright smile had abandoned her for a nervous one.

"It'll be okay." I whisper to her, feeling her relax her grip on my hand slightly, but she didn't let completely go. Mimi finished her speech up and my eyes were drawn to the female's bowl and she reached her hand into it, pulling out a single piece of paper and smoothing it out.

I'm praying in my head to anyone who will listen – _please not Junie, please not me. _I watched with bated breath as she announces the tribute to be reaped. And someone must have heard my prayer, because its not us. No, its worse.

"Violet Greenlish!"

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><p><strong>Sooo, how'd you like it? You should hit the review button and tell me :3 <strong>

**Thorn's Reaping Dress: .com/thorns_reaping_dress/set?id=42042312  
>Juniper's Reaping Dress: .comjunipers_reaping_dress/set?id=42042499  
>Violet's Reaping Dress: .comjunipers_reaping_dress/set?id=42042499**


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